I have two fervent hopes about the recent publicity in which a 46-year-old Muskegon man is charged with trying to abduct a 16-year-old girl.

One hope is that it turns out Jeffrey Willis really is the one who killed Jessica Heeringa and Rebekah Bletsch. That way the families of both women could have closure and a really bad apple would be removed from society.

My other hope is that Willis is given a fair and impartial trial, which actually is a lot more difficult task than we believe. All you have to do is watch the compelling documentary “Making a Murderer.”

For those who haven’t paid attention, Willis was arrested and identified in a botched abduction attempt of a teen. Upon further examination, it has been reported authorities have come up with some evidence that might link Willis to an unsolved murder and disappearance in the Muskegon area.

It’s a familiar story about a seemingly creepy individual, a loner, the fodder of so much television crime drama. And we want to believe it’s all true. The broadcast and print media have been having several field days, accompanied by solid ratings and readership.

They seem to be painting a picture of a disturbed individual who may indeed be guilty of heinous crimes. But let’s be certain that it’s so.

I get really nervous when the media feeding frenzy seems to be calling for this guy’s head long before evidence has been introduced into a courtroom. It’s too easy to get caught up in the emotion of these developments, and not easy enough for people to take a step back and do serious critical thinking rather than wishful thinking. Let’s indeed assume he is innocent until proven guilty.

In “Making a Murderer,” it seemed like the public was looking for and found a convenient scapegoat in a murder case. Steve Avery was prime pickings because he was poor, not very bright and not very likable. Avery had been arrested many years ago and spent 18 years in prison for a rape he did not commit. Shortly after he was released, he was accused of murdering a woman whose car was found on his property and whom he had met earlier in the day when she was killed.

In the documentary, it looked like local authorities were under a lot of pressure to have someone arrested and charged with the murder because the public doesn’t like it when crimes go unsolved. They want the kind of closure TV drama affords them.

I worry that print and broadcast media, in the rush to get people to watch and read, are leading the charge in prosecuting Jeffrey Willis. And I worry the prosecutors and police will be under a lot of public pressure to put this guy behind bars, which is AOK with me if he really is guilty.

The most important caution is to avoid an ending similar to the famous 1943 Henry Fonda western movie “The Oxbow Incident.” If you don’t know what that is, rent the movie.